Tourists visiting Majorca have been issued an urgent holiday warning as the authorities scramble to find ways to deal with overtourism. Authorities are calling for a “strategic plan” while claiming that the city is in a “critical situation”.
On Tuesday, the president of the Majorca Hoteliers Federation, Maria Frontera, called for a “strategic plan” to tackle tourist overcrowding, reports Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Hoteliers proposed “diverting tourist flows” by improving public transport to better distribute footfall in the high season based on municipality carrying capacities that were calculated by the government last year.
The federation said that it understands finding solutions will be difficult in the “short term” lead-up to peak summer season but criticised previous governments for their actions being “more reactive than preventive”.
In parliament, Balearic Islands president Marga Prohens advocated restricting the growth of tourism to prioritise “value, not volume”.
“I am proud to be the president of a tourist region and precisely because of this, I believe in tourism and the economic model. The time has come to set the limits that you (the opposition) did not set,” the Spanish politician said.
According to the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, at least 155 hotels and resorts across Mallorca now stay open year-round for winter hiking breaks and summer holidays – twice as many as there were in 2019.
The hoteliers asked for “a clear picture” of the situation in the whole of the Balearics with data to indicate carrying capacities in each municipality after there was a change of government last year.
She added that current problems are not new and that the hoteliers have been calling for “a transformation process” for several years. “Seeking a balance of coexistence between residents and visitors has long been an issue on these islands.”
“We all saw it and we have asked that it be managed better. But governments tend to be more reactive than preventive.”
In the Balearic parliament, meanwhile, President Marga Prohens said that she has “always” defended the limitation of tourism growth and that her government’s programme advocates a transformation of the tourism model so that it grows in value, not in volume.
She accused the previous government of having done “absolutely nothing” to tackle the illegal supply of tourist accommodation.